Saturday, 28 December 2019

Andy's Top 100 Albums of the 2010's (Part 4)

70. LAST GREAT DREAMERS - "Transmissions From Oblivion" (2016) (Review here)

After timing their initial arrival on the music scene in the '90s badly (they arrived just as Britpop was kicking off and pretty much sunk like a stone), the sudden reappearance of Last Great Dreamers was one of the more enjoyable musical occurrences of the decade. Releasing an "odds 'n' sods" compilation, "Crash Landing In Teenage Heaven" which was actually far superior to their official '90s album "Retrosexual", they then followed it up with their comeback album proper, "Transmissions From Oblivion" which mixed the best bits of glam, punk and power-pop to come up with something genuinely great. The follow-up, 2018's "13th Floor Renegades" was a good effort as well and hopefully there'll be plenty more to come from this band in the new decade.



69. THE NOVEMBER FIVE - "If You're Satisfied Then You Are Dead" (2013) (Review here)

Another band who dropped off the scene way too quickly after two very good albums (2015's "Awake In A Daze" being the other) but feck me, when this one landed it really did feel like this lot could be on the verge of taking the world by storm. Taking their stylistic leanings from goth and post-punk (the Sisters and the Cure principally) but adding a ferocious political anger to them, the sky really did seem to be the limit for the November Five when they broke on the scene. Unfortunately, it's been a good five years since I last heard of any activity from them (and their videos appear to be now gone from Youtube) meaning unfortunately I think this band is sadly no more which is a real shame. If you can find a copy of this somewhere though, really do give it a listen, it's a proper lost classic from this decade.

68. NEW MODEL ARMY - "Winter" (2016) (Review here)

NMA managed three albums during the decade with 2013's "Between Dog And Wolf" and 2019's "From Here" being the others (well, four if you count 2014's odds and sods effort "Between Wine And Blood") but "Winter" was the best of the three, mixing elements from several of their past eras with a few new tricks as well to create something genuinely special. A great album from a great band who remain very much a relevant force as the decade draws to a close.



67. THE CRUNCH - "Busy Making Noise" (2013)

Not just a supergroup but a superb group, the Crunch were formed by Sulo from the Diamond Dogs, Mickey Geggus from the Cockney Rejects, Dave Tregunna from Sham 69/Lords of the New Church and Terry Chimes formerly of the Clash and Hanoi Rocks. They put out two albums, this one and 2015's "Brand New Brand" before the various members returned to their day jobs but both were very good efforts and are well worth your time to track down. Hopefully downtime permitting we'll see a third Crunch album surface at some point.



66. THE MEMBRANES - "What Nature Gives...Nature Takes Away" (2019) (Review here)

The Membranes sort of re-mutated back from being Gold Blade in the middle of the decade and announced their return with 2015's epic but slightly unfocused "Dark Matter/Dark Energy". However this year's follow-up saw them refine the formula slightly to create a truly gargantuan beast effortlessly hopping between genres that you could lose yourself in for hours on end. With guest appearances from Kirk Brandon, Jordan (the ex-Pistols associate not the airhead page 3 girl) and Chris Packham of all people, this was a real treat for the old lugholes.



65. TEENAGE CASKET CO - "Still Standing" (2013) (Review here)

Surfacing six years after its predecessor and with founder member Jamie Delerict having long since departed to form the FDC's, I think most of us were surprised that Teenage Casket Co were still a thing at this point but "Still Standing" actually proved to be their strongest work to date. Much more melodic than its predecessor but still unafraid to rock the hell out, it would've spawned a whole glut of hit singles in the hands of a more commercially fortunate band. TCC would split a couple of years afterwards unfortunately but bassist Laney is now in the Harlequin Ghosts (more of whom later) and vocalist Rob Wylde now splits his time between fronting Tigertailz and Midnite City.



64. THE GLITTERATI - "Are You One Of Us?" (2010)

Another album which was a long time in the making but all the more satisfying when it did arrive. Following their brief dalliance with mainstream success in 2005 following their first album, the intervening half decade had seen the Glitterati touring like absolute buggers while putting this together and it proved time well spent as "Are You One Of Us?" had cut itself loose from the poor production that had hobbled its predecessor a bit to really kick in as a great album. Unfortunately the band weren't long for this world afterwards - Paul and Gaff would resurface in the excellent Dedwardians who sadly never got to the album stage before the latter would join up with Rags from the Role Models in the Digressions (again, more of whom shortly) as the decade wound to a close.



63. SUEDE - "The Blue Hour" (2018) (Review here)

The 21st century incarnation of Suede have put out three albums since reforming at the start of the decade (2013's "Bloodsports" and 2016's "Night Thoughts" being the other two) but this was their best efforts, taking the epic scale of the previous two and adding more of a focus to things. Feeling almost like a sister album to 1994's classic "Dog Man Star", this was Brett Anderson and co doing what they do best, big epic torch songs with a slightly sinister undercurrent and it was great stuff.



62. RICH RAGANY - "Like We'll Never Make It" (2018) (Review here)

Following a trio of excellent albums with the Role Models (more of whom later on this list), Rags' solo album (later toured with his new band the Digressions) saw a more reflective side to his songwriting, bringing back memories of Elvis Costello and the La's in places with some thoughtful lyrics and great tunes to boot. Rags is one hell of an under-rated songwriter and this album really deserves a place in your collection if it isn't there already.



61. BAR STOOL PREACHERS - "Grazie Governo" (2018) (Review here)

After a reasonably promising debut album in 2016's "Blatant Propaganda", "Grazie Governo" saw the Bar Stool Preachers really up their game to come out with one of the best pure punk albums in recent years, angrily railing against the injustices of society over the last decade. Given the fact that if anything things have actually got even worse since then, it's safe to say that (unfortunately) they should have plenty of material to follow this up with for album number three...


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